The Fallacy of the Sanhedrin

The power and boldness of those who witness for Christ do not come from any spiritual experience of the past, but from present, active contact with the risen Lord. The first experience is not to be discounted, but in no wise can it be made to account for the present strength of believers.

As children, many of us learned a hymn that told of the days when Jesus was on earth, and suggested that it would have been nice to have been living at that time. Would any Christian who knows Biblical truth really say for a moment that he would prefer the days of Christ's earthly ministry to those in which we live? Would the touch of His hands upon our heads or the look of His eyes be comparable to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who reveals the things of Christ to our hearts?

In the early days of the church, the Sanhedrin attributed the power of the apostles to the fact that they had been the disciples of Christ during the three years of His earthly ministry. This was the judgment of unsaved men. "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). The psychology of the Sanhedrin was that three years of contact with Jesus was sufficient to give these men a fanatical frame of mind and a boldness that goes with fanaticism. This, however, is not the case, and the explanation, as seen in the light of the previous action of these men, is totally inadequate. Peter had denied the Lord with oaths and cursings, and even John had forsaken Him in the hour of crisis.

The explanation was not that they had been with Jesus in the past, but that they were filled with the Holy Spirit for the present need. They had been born of the Spirit through faith in Christ on the day of Pentecost; they had been baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, and sealed with the Spirit unto the day of redemption. Even this would not have accounted for their power and boldness had they not been filled with the Holy Spirit for the need of each moment. So we read a few verses before the conclusion of the Sanhedrin that "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit" spoke unto them.

1. What role is the Holy Spirit playing in the early church that would make the Sanhedrin think this way about the Apostles?
2. Read Acts 1:6-11, how does this passage prove the point being made here?
3. Read Acts 2:1-12, does it make sense that people did not understand why the Apostles were acting the way they were? Why or Why not?